PNS|Vijayawada
Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Endowments Kottu Satyanarayana has said that the construction of temples has been taken up in such a way that there should be no village without a temple across the State.
Speaking to media persons on Tuesday, he said that many issues were discussed during the CGF committee meeting. He said that as per the orders of the Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the construction of Hindu temples is being undertaken on a large scale in many slums and weaker sections of the State for the preservation of Hindu Dharma and for promoting it on a large scale.
He said that financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh is being provided by the TTD Trust for the construction of these temples. He said that in addition to the 1,330 temples already taken up in the state, another 1,465 temples have been added.
As per the request of many public representatives, approval has been given to take up another 200 temples by constituencies. He said that the construction works of 978 temples undertaken by the Endowments department are going on in full swing. For every 25 temples, the responsibilities of the construction work have been entrusted to an assistant engineer and the necessary AEs have also been outsourced. He said that the rest of the temple constructions are being carried out under the auspices of other voluntary organisations.
Similarly, the CGF has sanctioned funds for the renovation of several temples and for Dhupa Dipa Naivedyam offerings. The Deputy Chief Minister said that out of the funds of Rs 270 crores, Rs 238.19 crores have already been released. He said that works worth Rs 68 crore have already been undertaken with the funds, while the rest are in the tender stage. He said that Rs 14.74 crore has been spent so far out of Rs 28 crore allocated in the budget to give Rs 5,000 per month to each temple for this year’s Dhupadipa Naivedyam. He further said that Dhupa Dipa Naivedyam was applied to only 1,561 temples till 2019, but at present, it has been extended to 5,000 temples.
